A person of few phrases
An emotional Steve O’Dwyer was interviewed by Laura Cornelius proper after profitable the 2022 Irish Poker Open. A person of only a few phrases, he chooses those he makes use of very fastidiously. There was an appreciation of his success. There was a reverence for the occasion itself, the longest-running poker event in Europe. There was some pleasant whimsy as he spoke a couple of fortunate chair he wished to convey residence with him. There have been additionally some emotional, heartfelt phrases about it which means loads to him.
one of many best gamers of all time
O’Dwyer is among the best gamers of all time however he hasn’t performed very a lot poker of late. The world of nosebleed high-stakes MTTs is a swingy, usually merciless place and one which assessments a participant’s tolerance for ache. Steve has an enviable resumé however it’s straightforward to have a look at tens of tens of millions of {dollars} in dwell winnings and presume that his journey has been clean crusing. Poker places you within the blender. Downswings make you doubt your self.
O’Dwyer has been having fun with some well-deserved time away from the felt. Dublin, the ancestral residence of the Irish Open, is his adopted metropolis and a spot that fits him. In case you take a stroll round St Stephen’s Inexperienced on a day, you would possibly spot him, ambling with no specific objective, deep in thought. The truth is, that’s the place I ran into him on the finish of final summer time.
Like using a motorcycle
We stopped to shoot the breeze, meandering between a number of subjects. From home life to dwell event exploits, I discovered myself so engrossed in our dialog that I missed my practice.
received the Tremendous Excessive Curler for $313,000
He instructed me that he was in all probability going to enterprise out to play a dwell poker pageant in Cyprus the next month, his first since January 2020. A number of weeks later, I used to be checking in on the outcomes from the Advantage poker pageant and noticed that he’d received the Tremendous Excessive Curler for $313,000, his twenty sixth dwell victory. It’s like using a motorcycle, I assume.
Steve is underexposed for such an enormous within the sport, so naturally, earlier than we parted methods, I attempted to e book him for an interview on ‘The Chip Race.’ He politely declined earlier than providing a compromise. “Possibly if there was a specific cause or I had one thing specific to say on a subject, we may do a brief piece on that.” I requested him whether or not there was a subject on which he had robust opinions. He simply smiled and shrugged.
Steve wished to riffle some chips
Since Cyprus in September, Steve additionally performed the Excessive Curler of the Unibet Worldwide Poker Open. Its €550 buy-in was considerably smaller than the registration charge within the Excessive-Rollers he’s used to enjoying. We chatted briefly that day and I bear in mind individuals asking what a man with $30m in dwell winnings was doing in such a tiny occasion. My VegasSlotsOnline Information compadre Dara O’Kearney joked that he actually wished to get that determine to $30,015,000, however the reality was he simply wished to play.
Like so many people, Steve merely wished to riffle some chips, really feel some playing cards in his arms, and have a chat along with his table-mates. For lots of gamers, myself included, dwell occasions are a reprieve from the lone-wolfishness of the net grind. The pandemic lower off our principal avenue for socializing. It’s been a troublesome couple of years.
a homecoming of types for the Irish poker group
All of which brings us again to this 12 months’s Irish Poker Open, a homecoming of types for the Irish poker group, shared with the standard throng of worldwide guests. An enormous quantity of credit score is because of JP McCann and Paul O’Reilly for placing on a record-setting pageant.
Three nights in the past, I noticed Steve nonetheless within the subject with about 100 left, so after I hopped into the commentary sales space I half-jokingly instructed the viewers that everybody was enjoying for second. Simply 24 hours later and I used to be standing on the rail with solely two tables left. I wanted Steve good luck, following up with the obligatory fist-bump. I additionally reminded him of our dialog.
“In case you win, that counts as a specific cause to do an interview, proper?” He smiled and begrudgingly acquiesced. “Okay, however solely If I win,” he mentioned. “I’ll name you on Tuesday,” I replied.
The talents of O’Dwyer’s opponents have been on present
It could be straightforward to say that the ultimate desk was all one-way visitors however that might do a disservice to the opposite gamers that additionally contributed to a very nice poker spectacle. Resistance got here within the type of former Irish Open champion Dan Wilson who proved why he too is among the many sport’s elite, enjoying the brief stack with such poise and deftness, making the proper play time and time once more, and pulling off one of many nice televised hero-folds you'll ever see:
There was additionally a mind-blowing above-the-rim verify again by Matthew Bushell as O’Dwyer performed possum with the flopped nuts:
O’Dwyer acknowledged placing some heinous beats on a number of opponents all through the event. None have been worse than the river one-outer he discovered to wreck Kyle Maguire when there have been six left:
Whittling down the competitors
There was an early bust-out for former Irish Open champion Patrick Clarke:
Subsequent to go was Justin Boyle, a disappointing end for the person who got here into the ultimate desk in third place:
Chris Williams bowed out in seventh:
Bushell took sixth place after cruelly shedding a 70:30 to O’Dwyer:
Wilson completed fifth after proving what a brief stack ninja he may be:
Garry Spinks, who let his trusted coin make a few knife-edge selections alongside the best way, got here fourth:
Mircea Rus additionally navigated the brief stack beautifully, coming third and incomes a well-deserved career-best payday:
The usual of play on the ultimate desk was immense and finally culminated in a battle between O’Dwyer and Maguire, the 2 males who got here into the ultimate desk far forward of the chasing pack.
No miracle comeback for Maguire
Kyle Maguire is a real grinder, a participant who has battled on-line and dwell for over a decade. All through his principal occasion run, he confirmed great braveness and psychological fortitude and on the ultimate desk he carried the hopes of a proud poker nation:
Heads-up was at all times going to be robust although as Maguire had simply 9% of the chips in play and an elite opponent with whom to contend. Sadly for him, it was to not be. He bought it in good for the umpteenth time within the remaining hand as O’Dwyer spiked his 3-outer, and that was all she wrote.
A remaining desk masterclass
O’Dwyer handled the Irish Poker Open viewers to a remaining desk masterclass. It was a clinic of what to do when you find yourself chip-leader – what arms to make use of as semi-bluffs, what arms to flat out and in of place, what sizings to make use of to leverage the brief stacks, how you can bully the middling stacks. His understanding of ICM was on present as he put his opponents within the bin over and over. Its additionally price noting that he eradicated each single certainly one of his opponents.
Steve is a mild presence on the desk, his soulful eyes watching every part like a hawk however not in an overtly intimidating means. Whereas Foxen and Chidwick interrogate your each gesture with their baleful stares, Steve is extra like a sleuth, passively amassing knowledge factors, finding out you want an issue to be solved.
the Twenty fourth-largest rating of his illustrious profession
This was removed from his greatest consequence. The truth is, the €318,000 ($343,195) first prize is barely the Twenty fourth-largest rating of his illustrious profession. Nonetheless, he did appear to genuinely imply it when he mentioned that it rated amongst his favourite wins. Possibly that’s as a result of it was in Eire, or as a result of it has come at a time when he's returning to the sport after a hiatus.
Regardless of the cause, he's a really worthy champion and he’ll be getting a name from me later at present.
